The company has reported an increase in pilot
sick leave and resulting flight cancellations. I write to
tell you that if anyone is considering or feels that they
may have improperly utilized sick leave, they must cease
doing so immediately – not only because it endangers our
union but also because it threatens our ability to achieve
our central goal -- the conclusion of a favorable Joint
Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA). If we continue down
this path, we hand the company the opportunity to be
relieved of any pressure to resolve these negotiations
quickly, and we risk significantly delaying the conclusion
of a JCBA.

The company is also stating that some pilots
have declined to volunteer for junior/senior manning in
order to put pressure on the company in connection with the
JCBA negotiations. The Court’s injunction specifically
prohibits us from a “concerted refusal to accept voluntary
. . . flying” and any such concerted refusal to fly must
also immediately cease.

As you know, we are fully and completely
focused on concluding a JCBA and have applied all of our
resources to accomplishing this task. We have concluded
that a meaningful deadline is the only way to push the
parties to agreement, and we have been working in close
coordination with ALPA National to obtain a release from the
NMB to create the necessary pressure to bring about an
agreement. But make no mistake: if the court finds that we
have engaged in an improper sick out, or any other improper
economic pressure activity, our ability to obtain a release
or conclude a JCBA will be in serious jeopardy. The NMB has
the power to delay a release, and the court has the power to
forestall a pilot strike – even if the NMB releases the
parties. Improper sick leave activity or other activity
weakens our position in negotiations and makes it much
more difficult to obtain a JCBA.

Simply stated, improper use of sick leave or
decisions that impact operations in order to pressure the
company to threaten everything we have been trying to
accomplish in recent months. Any such activity must
stop. Instead, we must continue to behave just as
we have done for the past four years. Continue to do your
jobs with the professionalism each of you has demonstrated
for so long.

Captain Ellis’ message yesterday directing
that we provide a doctor’s note and coordinate with Flight
Operations regarding sick leave calls in response to this
situation raises several issues, and I assure you that we
will raise those issues with the company. We do not agree
that the company is permitted to issue a broad directive
like this, and we do not believe the company is permitted to
require that you speak with the Flight Office concerning
your medical status other than regarding the duration of
your need to be absent. We believe instead that such
communications must continue to be, as they have been in the
past, matters between United Medical, the pilot and his
physician. We intend to tell management that they are
wrong. If they do not change their position, we will tell
you what you may or may not be able to do under existing
law, and we will of course fight the company in the
grievance process. A copy of my letter to the Company on
this issue is attached.

In the meantime, keep track of any expenses
you incur and notify your LEC Grievance Committee of your
experience and costs. As for the call to the Flight Office,
we will be issuing to you by no later than tomorrow what may
be appropriately discussed in such a call and what you are
entitled to respectfully decline to answer.

For now, remember this:

If you are not fit to fly, comply with
Captain Ellis’ directive. We will challenge those aspects
of the directive with which we don’t agree and we will
advise you of the outcome of these challenges.

If you are not sick, go to work, behave
professionally, and together we will achieve the JCBA we
deserve.

Absent an Agreement in Principle on the JCBA, a strike
ballot will open on Friday, June 29. Details will be
forthcoming.

The
MEC Strategic Planning and Strike Committee (SPSC) will
launch a major effort to make trained Pilot to Pilot (P2P)
volunteers available to the pilots beginning tomorrow, June
26. In conjunction with our Continental counterparts, these
P2P volunteers will be stationed in numerous locations
throughout our system to help answer your questions
regarding the Strike Authorization Ballot. Our mission: to
provide answers to your questions regarding the strike
ballot and to channel any concerns of yours to the MEC.
Additionally, the volunteers will be asking our pilots to
verify the contact information they currently have on file
with ALPA.

We
plan to have P2P presence in all the domicile flight
planning areas, except JFK and EWR. The P2P volunteers can
be identified by a RED LANYARD in Ops and will have a
private, non-company computer to assist them in their
tasks. We will also have P2P volunteers in as many domestic
layover hotels as practicable. We will have a presence at
the following hotels: SFO-Doubletree Airport and Hilton
downtown, IAH Marriott, EWR Marriott, ORD Hyatt O’Hare, LAS
Westin, BOS Logan Hilton, SAN Westin, LAX Renaissance and
Belamar, and the IAD Marriott. The volunteers can be
identified by special RED SHIRTS and will hold court in a
suitable place in the hotel to answer your questions. Look
for the P2P banner opposite the signup page in the UAL sign
in binder and look for the pilot in the RED SHIRT with the
ALPA insignia and “Pilot to Pilot” lettering.

Here is the P2P schedule
for the coming week.

Tuesday, June 26

Ops

Time

LGA Ops

0500-1200

IAD Ops

1400-2100

ORD Ops

0500-1200

DEN Ops

0700-1400

LAX Ops

0500-1200

SFO Ops

0500-1200

SEA Ops

0500-1200

Hotels

SFO Doubletree

1600-2000

SFO Hilton

1600=2000

ORD Hyatt

1600-2000

Wednesday, June 27

Ops

Time

LGA Ops

0500-1200

IAD Ops

1400-2100

ORD Ops

0500-1200

DEN Ops

0700-1400

LAX Ops

0500-1200

SFO Ops

0500-1200

SFO Ops

1400-1200

SEA Ops

0500-1200

Hotels

SFO Doubletree

1600-2000

SFO Hilton

1600=2000

ORD Hyatt

1600-2000

Thursday, June 28

Ops

Time

LGA Ops

0500-1200

IAD Ops

0500-1200

IAD Ops

1400-2100

ORD Ops

0500-1200

DEN Ops

0700-1400

SFO Ops

0500-1200

SFO Ops

1400-1200

SEA Ops

0500-1200

Hotels

SFO Doubletree

1600-2000

SFO Hilton

1600=2000

ORD Hyatt

1600-2000

IAD Dulles Marriott

1600-2000

SAN Westin

1600-2000

Friday, June 29

Ops

Time

IAD Ops

1400-2100

SFO Ops

0500-1200

SFO Ops

1400-1200

SEA Ops

0500-1200

Hotels

SFO Doubletree

1600-2000

SFO Hilton

1600=2000

SAN Westin

1600-2000

Saturday, June 30

Ops

Time

IAD Ops

1400-2100

SFO Ops

0500-1200

SFO Ops

1400-1200

Hotels

SFO Doubletree

1600-2000

SFO Hilton

1600=2000

SAN Westin

1600-2000

Sunday, July 1

Ops

Time

IAD Ops

1400-2100

SFO Ops

0500-1200

SFO Ops

1400-1200

Hotels

SFO Doubletree

1600-2000

SFO Hilton

1600=2000

This
is a major effort on the part of the Master Executive
Council (UALMEC) to provide an informed and trained peer to
answer any questions you have regarding the strike ballot
and other areas of concern as time permits. This vote is
important as it sends the message you carry in you to the
MEC, the company and your fellow pilots. It is your
reflection of your feelings about the pace of negotiations
and the attitude displayed by the company towards you. You
will send a message not only by voting, for participation is
the key; the result is critical as well: For a strike or
against a strike. Either way it is incumbent upon you and
your fellow pilots to base your vote on facts and not
fiction. Our volunteers have had instruction on the Railway
Labor Act (RLA) and other matters that bear on this ballot.
I hope you will ask them your questions and they can dispel
any misunderstandings you may have regarding this most
important vote.

I ask
if you like the results and individual contact of the Pilot
to Pilot program, that you volunteer to participate in the
program. We will work with your local elected
representatives to get you trained.

Thank
you for your time and consideration in this most important
matter. I will see you on the line.

WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - A fire at an air traffic facility in
New Jersey on Friday knocked out electronics
that help coordinate flights into and out of
airports, and airlines said the glitch worsened
a day of heavy delays and cancellations
triggered by storms in the eastern United
States.

The Federal
Aviation Administration FAA.L said the early
afternoon EDT.L fire at its technical center in
Atlantic City knocked out servers and left some
automated systems used to efficiently
communicate the status of airport ground
operations temporarily unavailable.

With digital
information unavailable, airlines could not plan
and track their flights as quickly as they
normally would at the start of another busy
summer weekend for travelers, especially in and
out of New York, the world's busiest air space.

The FAA said
its ability to direct flights in the air was
unaffected and backup data kicked in and offered
some relief for affected operations.

But the
agency's sprawling command center outside of
Washington mainly had to coordinate airport
conditions with other agency facilities and
airlines via telephone, which maintained safe
operations but slowed communications for
thousands of flights.

On a clear
day, the FAA outage probably would have been
less apparent with airport conditions more
predictable. But heavy thunderstorms prompted
the FAA to ground or delay flights in New York
temporarily for safety, leading to changes in
airport operations.

Any major
delay in New York will affect flights elsewhere,
especially in other East Coast cities.

Delta Air
Lines alone canceled 300 flights. United
Airlines, American Airlines, US Airways and
JetBlue Airways canceled large numbers of
flights as well.

The explosion
and fire that witnesses said generated towering
flames forced evacuation of the FAA center and
also interrupted the agency's Internet,
including its
www.fly.faa.gov website and emails.

The cause of
the fire was under investigation and FAA data
systems were not fully operational as of Friday
night.

Before the
fire, all three big New York-area airports
halted traffic for a time while storms passed
through the area, setting in motion a ripple
effect of service problems throughout the day
that would worsen after the FAA fire, airlines
said.

Bad weather
also affected flights in San Francisco.

United told
passengers that weather and FAA-related flight
delays and cancellations would continue into
Saturday at New York-area airports, Philadelphia
and Washington.

Delta
canceled 300 flights, while JetBlue Airways said
it canceled nearly 70. US Airways reported 46
mainline and more than 200 Express flight
cancellations. All three blamed weather and the
FAA outage.

American
Airlines advised passengers via Twitter of long
waits in the Northeast due to the FAA glitch and
storms, which generally are the primary reason
for delays and cancellations industry wide.

The United States
District Court has issued a preliminary injunction.
(Click Here to read the
Preliminary Injunction Order. Click Here to read the
Memorandum Opinion and Order). The injunction
enjoins ALPA, the individual defendants, and all
persons and organizations acting by, in concert
with, through or under them, or by and through their
orders, from calling, permitting, instigating,
authorizing, encouraging, participating in,
approving or continuing any interference with
United's airline operations, including but not
limited to any strike, work stoppage, sick-out,
slowdown, work to rule campaign, concerted refusal
to accept voluntary or overtime flying, or other
concerted refusal to perform normal pilot operations
in violation of the Railway Labor Act.

The
Court has directed that all United pilots resume
their normal individual working schedules and
practices, and ALPA is hereby instructing all pilots
to cease and desist from engaging in any slowdown,
sick-out, work to rule campaign, refusal to accept
voluntary or overtime flying, or other concerted
refusal to conduct pilot operations in the normal
manner. With this message ALPA is instructing that
you cease and desist all such activity and cease and
desist from all statements or communications
encouraging such conduct.

We must comply
with the Court's direction. This is about all of us,
because each of us will be at risk of court fines or
company discipline if we engage in any
Court-prohibited activity or if we encourage others
to do so. Do not engage in any form of sick-out,
improper use of sick leave, improper use of fatigue
calls, slowdown activity such as intentional delays
in the operation, pressure or harassment of other
pilots for taking overtime flying, concerted refusal
to accept junior/senior manning, or any other form
of economic pressure, and do not encourage others to
do any of these things. We must resume normal
individual working schedules and practices. Again,
these are requirements of the Court, and we must
comply starting immediately.